1. Field of the Invention
Embodiments of this invention relates to systems and methods to analyze entity profiles, in particular, embodiment relate to analyze attributes and interactions of entities in a minimally invasive manner. In embodiment, that analysis is used to share attribute and interaction data and used to determine degrees of similarity of entities.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The emergence of the information society and net-centric military were expected to help organizations reach new levels of performance. As information can now be passed over long distances without effort, increasingly complex activities that rely on collection and integration of information which were previously unavailable can be attempted. Network-enabled environments allow geographically separated individuals with niche skill sets to interact to create ever more innovative solutions to difficult problems. Unfortunately, as the numbers of people an individual interacts with increases, it is more and more difficult for a given individual to retain a “running tally” of the interests of all of their colleagues. When these individuals are overloaded with the complexity of their environment, they often concentrate their efforts on their local tasking, limiting their interactions with others to happenstance. This closes many avenues for collaboration and leads to inefficiencies.
Relying on rigid bureaucratic hierarchies does not solve the problem of connecting people with overlapping interests, particularly in cases where the mission or situation poses an unusual challenge (one for which the bureaucracy has no processing mechanism), requires coordinated execution of new methods, or requires the involvement of new team members. While these organizations may easily manage a few well understood scenarios, they are simply not matched to the problems of dynamic environments. The development of more flexible “hybrid” organizations that combine functional and hierarchical structures may provide an alternative in these cases, but that solution may still be far from ideal. Under the continuously changing circumstances of the modern world, it is unlikely that there will be any single organizational structure and process that is capable of addressing every situation. A third solution is to frequently restructure the organization in response to changing mission requirements. This requires a detailed analysis of the tasks and challenges currently facing an organization and then “re-wiring” the people and resources into a more efficient and effective form. This solution falls short of optimal, as well because (1) it requires the organization to be reconfigured every time there is significant change, (2) it demands a great deal of time and energy towards reconfigurations, and (3) it typically is met with significant resistance by conservative members of an organization. In short, changes in organizational structure alone are not sufficient to ensure optimal coordination because structural flexibility comes with unavoidable costs.
Corporations, government entities, and military teams need a tool that supports many organizational structures, while automatically detecting and initiating collaboration across organizational branches on an as-needed basis. There has a been some progress made in spontaneously generating collaborations through the use of knowledge management systems and by analyzing digital content to find links and connections within organizations (see IBM's Workplace Collaboration Services and Tacit's ActiveNet™). However, these solutions generally rely heavily on user input and user-initiated searches for like-minded individuals. They tend also to track only digital information that is on organization servers, leaving out a great deal of information available on that individual's local computer.
Organizational charts and manuals of doctrinal processes define roles, methods, and best practices for common missions and activities. But these same structures often force organizations to behave inefficiently—often ineffectively—on problems in new domains or problems that require new coordination methods and dynamic teams. Many organizations lack mechanisms for flexibility in the face of changing circumstances, and the results can be devastating. Often, organizations have personnel with the right skill sets to meet a particular challenge or to create innovative solutions to difficult problems, but those individuals do not know about the interests and skills of others in their organizations. Maintaining an accurate awareness of others' knowledge is cognitively infeasible for large organizations. As a result, the organization is vulnerable to two types of risks resulting from missed opportunities for collaboration: (1) a reduction in the quality of the organization's work products and the effectiveness of its response to the environment, and (2) an increase in productivity costs due to “reinvention of the wheel” by members unaware of other members' work in an area.
Furthermore, not all information is readily available in a digital form; much interaction in the workplace is still informal, occurring in the world of flesh-and-blood interaction. Studies of office interactions have discovered that 35-80% of work time is spent in spoken conversation, where 14-93% of work time is spent in opportunistic communication, and 7-82% of work time is spent in meetings (Allen, 1997). Face-to-face interaction within the workplace is central to information flow, particularly for senior managers (Nardi & Whittaker, 2002). Much critical information is transmitted by word of mouth in a serendipitous fashion. The money and time spent on business travel and conferences further underscores the value of face-to-face interactions. Thus to understand information flow within a human organization, we must understand not only the digital information produced and accessed but also what happens in spoken conversation.
Therefore, a tool is needed to facilitate rapid formation of effective human networks in a system that non-invasively monitors the rich content of digital media and conversation, builds knowledge of ad hoc and potential networks, and accurately recommends new opportunities for collaboration.